From: LBurman@aol.com
Subject: Confessions of a playtester- AGN
I helped playtest Perry Moore's new DTP game, Army Group North. I had never
playtested before, and thought members of consim-l might like to know about
the experience.
First off, playtesting is hard work. I figured it would basically be like
playing a game, and then telling the designer how to improve it. Wrong.
Since the rules aren't fully developed yet (that's why you're playtesting,
stupid), I had to constantly refer back to Perry for interpretations,
explanations, etc. Apparently I was asking a lot more questions than the
other playtesters, but Perry always got right back to me. Often, he had to
get me to clarify my request for a rule interpretation. It's harder to
express yourself precisely in writing than you can possibly imagine. Perry
was always helpful and upbeat, and never once called me a moron (though some
of my questions were, in hindsight, kind of stupid). Obviously, he has dealt
with playtesters many times. He liked some of my ideas, and when he rejected
them, he always explained why. I learned a lot about the military situation
from these e-mail discussions. On balance, I wasn't a very good playtester,
as I didn't realize how much time had to go in to doing a proper job.
Hopefully, my limited efforts did somewhat improve the final product. It was
a very informative experience, but I won't do it again unless I really have
the proper time to devote to the work.
THE SITUATION: July 1944, German Army Group North was an accident waiting to
happen. 16th & 18th armies were holding an advanced salient in the north,
then there was a h-u-g-e hole, then the 3d Panzer Army in the south. The
Germans were battered, and in sorry shape. A few decent divisions, a lot of
crummy ones, and assorted ash-and-trash. The Russians, on the other hand,
were about to launch two well-supplied, up to strength Fronts (plus one army
from another) against the German positions, and through the gaping hole. I've
never seen a wargame situation quite like this one-- a huge gap in the middle
of your lines, plus the usual idiotic Fuhrer "no retreat" order in effect for
the early game turns, so plugging the gap isn't easily done. For the German,
it's a scarier situation than the Bulge is for the Allies-- at least in Bulge
you can try to put a line together.
THE GAME: Beautiful Youst map (as good as anything out there!). Map is 17 x
22", but it doesn't play like a small game; almost all of the map is used for
play during the game. About 200 units counters, a lot, but never enough for
either player to accomplish what he wants; you never get continuous conga-
lines across the map. Units are mostly divisions, brigades and regiments for
mech, a few battalions (Germans only). Maneuver is always possible, and what
the game is really about.
INNOVATIONS: I've always admired Perry as a designer, and he introduces more
innovations here than I can recall seeing in a single game. That makes the
learning curve a bit steeper than you might expect. Once you understand how
it works, it is a fairly clean and uncomplicated game system, and plays
quickly.
There are no movement factors! Each unit type (mech or leg) has a maximum
movement, but the usable factor is a function of the distance from its HQ.
Combat factors are randomly determined, based on a unit quality Combat Class,
which prevents that factor-counting to get a certain odds ratio (Perry said he
would include an option to have fixed combat factors for those who don't like
excessive wristage). With some exceptions, effective combat is possible only
in a Main Sector where HQ or Artillery units can barrage. Supply is
straightforward, based on tracing to HQ and then to supply in the rear.
The effect of all of this is to force corps (German) and army (Russian) units
to stay close to their HQ, without any artificial command rules. The Main
Sector and movement rules create a situation very similar to that in the
Gamers' OCS series, where you can't just launch attacks all over the place,
but have to stockpile supply in the area of the attack. However, AGN
abstracts all of this in a very simple way, with about 1/100th of the effort
(and without all the supply markers). This is a very clever idea, which I
predict will be seen in many other games.
Combat is bloodless, with retreats the primary result. The only way to wipe
out enemy forces is to surround them with ZOC's and force a retreat. Since
only Class I and II divisions have real ZOC's, this is not as easy as you may
think. There are lots of combat modifiers to reflect the terrain and
situation, and especially armor. You can get a modifier up to +10 just from
having enough armor (on a 10-sided die!). Armor-heavy forces can literally
blow the enemy out (although there are no overrun rules- this is 1944, the
Germans aren't as good as they were, and the Russians are still learning).
Also, only armor can take advantage of large retreats; infantry attackers can
only advance one hex, maximum. So you need armor if you want to advance fast.
Artillery and air are only used to disrupt enemy forces, which provides
modifiers in the ensuing combat.
FIRST GAME: The Russians came on like gang busters, and the poor Germans
were tied down by the Hitler standfast rule. The Germans were too crappy for
anything but the most limited counterattacks. By turn 4, I told Perry that
the game was defective -- there is no way for the Germans to win! He told me
to keep playing. All I could do was use German battalions and weak regiments
as speed bumps to slow down the onrushing hordes. In fact, I was so
overconfident as the Russian that I made mistakes -- I didn't realize that
infantry armies couldn't advance fast enough without a tank corps to get the
big advances after combat. Still, it looked like curtains for the Germans.
When the standfast rule finally expired, I redeployed German mech forces
piecemeal to slow down the red machine. Unfortunately, the Russian advances
in the east had cut off a lot of the crummy German leg divisions, so there was
no easy way to redeploy them. In the west, the Reds quickly took Kauer and
Wilkomir, got across the Memel river when a German engineer just couldn't roll
a bridge demolition to save its life, took Poneswisch and Storgenberg, and
seemed to be unstoppably on their way to the ultimate objective-- Riga (which
would cut the 16th and 18th armies off from supply, and win the game
decisvely).
On the plus side, I now had enough German ash-and-trash blocking the forests
and marshes in the center of the board, where it was hard for the Reds to
manuever around and cut them off. Still looked like a matter of time, though.
The Russians had not yet lost a single unit! Helpful hint: watch the order
of appearance! On turn 12, two beautiful panzer corps enter the game. These
are fresh troops, easily the best units in the game. There were two Russian
tank corps on the east side of the Memel River; unfortunately for them, less
than one move from the German entry hex. In one turn, an entire tank corps
was surrounded and pulverized. The turn after that, the other tank corps bit
the dust, and the Germans held the entire east side of the Memel. At the same
time, the Germans in the center of the map finally had enough strength to
attack, and (with a fair amount of luck) bit off the mech corps that was
spearheading the Russian attack in the center, killing most of it. The new
German units were enough to stabilize the center, and despite ferocious
Russian attacks, the Russkies never got anywhere near Riga. DECISIVE GERMAN
VICTORY. Whew.
In a subsequent game, I handled the Russians better, and didn't leave any of
the vital tank corps where they could get murdered. Still, the Russian has a
long way to go to get Riga, and he has to stick his (mechanized) neck out to
get there. Russia also runs into serious supply problems in the mid-game,
with one or the other of his fronts basically forced to hibernate until uncle
Joe decides to give them some gas. The game poses interesting problems for
both sides, and has substantial replay value working out different strategies.
It also seems to be fairly accurate historically. Either side can win.
ASSESSMENT: This is a fast-moving game, just big enough to be interesting.
With 21 turns, it will probably take about a weekend to play to completion,
maybe less if both players are familiar with the system. It is nearly perfect
for solitaire play. It contains a plethora of new ideas, some of which will
certainly be adopted by other designers. It is a interesting situation.
Further information is available at .
Larry Burman